2017

Beschreibung

We are group of friends (20-35yo), a mini multicultural Collective living in a house in Ghent; a really interesting, culturally rich and sparkling city. We highly care about DIY,environment, cycling, recycling, shareconomy and social, we would love you to actively collaborate with us.
Along our working tasks we also do many nice activities, such as language exchange, international dinners, outdoors, nature and going out to dance.

=======================LONG OR SHORT TERM=======================
*️️️*️️️SHORT TERM (25 hours/week)*️️️*️️️
Between Feb.-May;
Last minute volunteers or coming for just few days are welcome because we do in these periods bigger works.
TASKS
25 hours a week.
Similar tasks to the long term (look below), but more flexible, you can also choose what to do and
we mostly work from 10:00 to 15:30 (with a break) and two days a week are totally free.
OFFERING
Shared Bedroom/living-room, a bike, food(mostly non-fancy vegan, sometimes rescued non-vegan food), enjoyment, relax and social, ecological collective life!

*️️️*️️️LONG TERM (15hrs/week) At least one year, no food*️️️*️️️
From February we search also for one person to stay long term.
You need to have EU citizenship or permission (visa) to be in Europe for at least one year.
TASKS
15 hours a week
At home there are always things to repair, maintain working, clean and organize, we are looking for one skilled person who can think about it, something like a housekeeper but focused on the maintenance, organization and administration of the house with responsibilities as well.
You should be able to volunteer independently but you will spend some time with other volunteers in order to get the right knowledge and learn some handy stuff -)
OFFERING
We offer a small & rustic private room, a bicycle, a cargo bicycle, and a small treat on the end of the month (based on the done tasks), food is not provided.
The working schedule in average 15 hours a week: Two half days of 5 hours (mostly Monday and Tuesday) and ~1 hr a day for 5 days, you can schedule the works as you want (when possible) and you will have time for your activities (extra job, studying, chilling out, traveling).

IMPORTANT FOR US
No Drugs or Alcohol Abuse at home.

Arten von Arbeit

Arbeit

TASKS

1) House organization, cleaning and managing
Check the safety at home (smoke detectors, electric installation).
Check that is all OK with everybody at home and jump in for problems.
Organize, order and keep tidy where/when is needed.
Buy home shared products (soaps, paper, mop, brush...).
Follow up that the everybody follows the home cleaning plan: eventually, you can clean for the person who does not clean, then you get a bonus each time.
Your personal cleaning task is to keep the kitchen tidy and empty the dishwasher.
Help the neighbors when needed.

2) Post & Administration
Get post-mail and forward-scan it digitally via email.
Small paper work (print, go to the post, collect a parcel).

3) House Maintenance (whatever you are able to do)
Preventive maintenance (maintain the house working good: Change broken lights bulbs, keep doors open/close smoothly, fill the gaps if there is wind coming from a window)
Fixing broken things (repair a broken sofa, repair dishwasher)
Electric/onic reparations (we have an hi-tech house, a lot of light sensors, fingerprint door, electric appliances). Keep all appliances with a timer (auto-off).
Plumbing reparations (the plumbing system at home is easy to work on, made with “alpex”, you have eventually to install a sink, install some extra pipes, etc)
House appliances maintenance (check that the dishwasher gets cleaning cyclus regularly, clean filters of washing machine)
Making few extraordinary work to the house (paint, small building works).
Installation of new house equipment (dishwasher, washing machine, cabinets, curtains, hang a painting).
Paint on the walls (inside or outside)
Varnish wood (wooden floors, wooden cabinets)
Bike repair.

4) List unused stuff
At home we sell our inexpensive items we don’t use anymore (furniture, electronics, appliances...), we have an online shop, you have to:
Take pictures of unused stuff,
List it on the site,
Answer to potential buyers,
Ship the item or arrange an appointment (to let them collect it at home)
(you get a bonus for this: 50% - max 10 eur per item)

5) Guests (not often)
Welcome guests;
Prepare the room for them: clean the room, the sheets and the towels
(you will get a bonus for this task)

Of course you don’t have to do those tasks all the time, those are all the possible tasks in general.

Tasks schedule long term:
If you like self-organization it will be nice for you to live with us because you will get your own room and you will be independent in your works.
You should be stress resistant, because the working hours are not long but you may need sometimes to take decisions and responsibilities.
Weekly-scheme:
One day 10 hours (for time consuming tasks) or two days 5 hours;
One day completely free;
Five days 1 hour a day (keeping tidy, organizing, administration);
You should be reachable for urgent matters (it doesn't happen more than once every few months to have urgent issues).
The first month you will have to spend a bit more time in order to learn the tasks properly.
We discuss together the tasks on the beginning of the month, you have independence to do them and the most important is that the tasks are done, you are free to organize how/when to do it during the month.

Some useful skills for us:

You are an handyman
Well organized and good organizer
Clean & tidy
Capacity to fix problems and schedule work independently
Electricity, Building, Plumbing or Carpentry basic
You are willing to use google cloud software (gmail, Gdrive, calendar, hangouts, android)
If you like ecology, vegetarianism and bicycles, you are the best for us!

Staying period (long term):

We look for someone to stay as long as possible, one year would be the minimum (best from February to February).
You should notify two months in advance that you are leaving,
Would be nice if you could spend one/two months with the new volunteer to explain him how it works at home.

gesprochene Sprachen

Unterkunft

Offering (long term):

Accommodation in a shared house in your own attic room (not really big, on the 3rd floor).
All tools and equipment to work fast, smooth and without efforts.
Bicycle.
Hi-Tech (electronic devices and automation) & Comfortable house
Food is not provided if yous stay long term (if you stay short you get food), but you will get a bonus (on the first of the month) any time you do extra tasks, like this you have freedom of eating and cooking what you want, the more efficient you are the more you get bonus for:
Guests
Extra Cleaning tasks
Selling unused stuff (we sell all our old stuff (appliance, furniture, electronics... ) at home instead of trashing it)
Of course you will have a lot of free time to do an extra job.

Life at home:

You are going to live in a shared house with 5 or 6 persons (internationals professionals/students male/female between 18 - 30 years old)
You maybe be the only volunteer, or in a group two or three volunteers in the house (you are considered an housemate exactly as the others at home, the only difference is that you take care about the general maintenance of the house, the housemates rely on you for this)
Cleaning: you do your cleaning task (the kitchen/dishwasher) plus you check weekly that everybody is following the cleaning plan, you do the extra needed cleaning tasks (with bonus) and keep the house tidy.
Cooking/Eating: You are independent about eating. If someone feels like cooking for the others he just does it: autoregulation. We try to eat together every sunday, also to discuss about practical things regarding the house.
Normally at home there is nobody before 15.00 and everybody goes to sleep at around midnight.
Our place is a social house, we like to be in contact with people.
The most people at home is quiet.

Nice building, nice places around, at home is quiet with some green at the over-side,
It is NOT POSSIBLE TO PARK CARS IN THE AREA, we just have one parking space for our van.

The house is big (250m2) , two floors and with a lot of space.
In total we will be normally five (nice)persons in the house, maybe less (it depends also on the expenses and period) we mostly look for housemates from different countries and with ages between 18-35.
we have often guests.

House provided of:

HI-SPEED Wireless Internet: 160mb/s the fastest connection of Belgium,with UNLIMITED data plan.
Common kitchen (super-accessorised with crockery and all kind of stuff: Bread machine, Coffee machine, 2 microwaves, hoven, 2 fry machines, kitchen robot, etc... if you take care of it you can use it all);
Common bathroom (each of us has his closet/compartment) ;
Second toilet on the first floor;
Big living-room;
Garden;
Washing machine/Dry machine;
Dishwasher;
Robot to clean the floor;
Fingerprint entrance door (you no need keys anymore!);

EXTRAS:

- Guest room (where you can host friends and family for short periods)
- We just renovated the electric installation = safety
- We just made a new water installation + new boiler (water/heating) = comfort
- Fingerprint door = you will never need to look for keys! ;-)

Etwas mehr Information

Internet access

Limited internet access

We have pets

We are smokers

Kapazität - wie viele Workawayer maximal

mehr als zwei

Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

We believe that living together is not easy, but each of us has to do some effort in order to make everyday life at home enjoyable for everybody.
We are also sensible about ecology and we like to keep our home a place where we waste as less as possible (energy & products), we buy & sell second hand. One of your tasks would be also to keep everybody motivated about it.
We appreciate to spend time together but nothing is forced (we try to share at least the sunday dinner together).
In case of any issue we are all open to democratic discussions.

Arbeitszeiten

3hours/ 5 days

Weitere Bilder

Feedback left by and about host

This was my first workaway, I stayed with them for a little over a month, Lucas and the people of the house are very kind and helped me to adapt to the English, they were patient and very friendly. Many thanks for everything, I recommend this place. Ivy is a very good hostess and knows everything

At first Valesca was a bit introvert, I was thinking she would not fit in the group or that she was not so motivated, maybe because she was not so fluent in english. But after spending some time with her, working and living together, I have to say that it was such a great help and she totally immerse herself in our activities.

She was always… read more ready to help and tidy up, even without me asking her.

This house was the best place we could be, Luca is an awesome person and all the time tried that you feel in home at the same time he tried to all the workawayers make teams and work together.
He defined the hours of work and lunch time, his manage of the group made that everybody in that house could be a family.
Again, thanks a lot for all the… read more experiences, adventures and the friendship found in that house.
We hope come back!

Pablo went beyond all expectations, he worked so hard and had the highest commitment I have ever experienced in volunteers!
He is really easygoing and has also good knowledge about building and handy stuff.

I have appreciated particularly his politeness and how humble he was.

It was also a great time for me to be with him at home, discussing… read more about the most various topics always with a smile.
So it was more like a friend than anything else.

I spent a great week in this house. It was great, everybody in the house was very welcoming and had a great time with them. I am happy to have met Luca, we had really nice talks and I feel I have learnt a lot. I enjoyed doing the tasks and cooking, Luca always asked what we prefered to do and If i didn't know how to do something he helped me. He… read more is very grateful and that is always nice.

Greg has been a great help, really commited to go and finish any task he
started.
He is such an hard worker and meticulous person, he was so perfectionist
that once we even had a discussion about it :-)
Anyway thanks to him me and Laura learned about the prospective of drawing
lines for work projects: he is an architect!

Thank you very much for inviting me to your home Luca, i almost gave up when you offered me a place to stay. I will never forget the welcoming party, i arrived late but they were still awake, having a pyjama party, a wild one ;) This house was the closest to freedom and peace even though it was the busiest place in Belgium:) I had a great time… read more there and you were a good inlfuence on me. I tried my best, it wasn't easy because that type of work was kinda new for me and i wasn't 100% due to my injury, but i think i was able to become a useful member of the team at the end. The most colourful community and the warmest-hearted host i've ever lived with. Hopefully we will meet again soon. Thanks guys.

Regardless the fact that she came in the middle of the night, it was such a nice time to be with Nadia, we had many interesting conversations together and she was always extremely prompt to help anywhere.

I am really sorry if we were maybe not too good with matching her gluten-free diet, we tried our best but be sure that in the future we will… read more be more attentive to this.

I was only at the house for maybe 9 or 10 days, but I had such a wonderful time. Luca is such a lovely and caring person, always making sure you were okay, or were comfortable with the work or your sleeping arrangements. There were quite a lot of us in the house at the time I stayed there, from all over the globe, but I enjoyed meeting everyone. I… read more learned a lot about dumpster diving and hitchhiking, very useful skills for the future lol. My only regret is that I never got to participate in one of the famous pajama parties (just kidding). Thanks Luca and I would hope to meet you again some day. Ill miss you, the house and that delicious vegan cheese :P

I was in the house for three weeks was awesom, Luca and the others arr really nice, its a plece to chare culture, experiences, and make new ones, the work es easy, and if you can do that Luca, will change the task, at the beganing i will stay fir one week and then i was for three because i really liked, and gant its really nice. Thanks to
Luca and… read more all the guys in the house.

Alejandro has been a great help at home, he is completely chilled and would always jump in to work, he was even willing to help the day that he would depart!

Nevertheless he has no background of manual work for handyman's tasks, he was learning fast and turned out to be a great painter, he varnished the heating radiator as a master.

He is really… read more modest to write that he does not speak English so good, but talking to him in English is totally fine, above that he speaks French, Spanish and even some Italian.

I wish you a nice journey in France Alejandro, we will miss you at home.

(excellent
)

12.02.2017

Von Host für Workawayer (Alexander)

Alex is a young smart boy that studies maths but still doesn't bother to get his hands dirty.
He has been really helpful, always ready to help and had good ideas about practical works.
Everyone at home loved his company to eat and spend time together.

Hup Veggie hup!
;-)

Dieses Workawayer Profil wurde auf privat gestellt.

(excellent
)

12.02.2017

Left by Workawayer (Alexander) for host

I stayed for 7 days with Luca and the others in Gent, Ledeberg and overall, I really enjoyed my stay :) The work was really alright, and if you didn't know how to do something, Luca would explain it very patiently to you! I also learnt how cook the Perfect pasta pommodore and risotto :) I really enjoyed talking to everyone in the house, they did… read more everything they could to make me feel at home, eventhough I wasn't used to this new place in the beginning...

Gent is also really amazing, I explored the city with the bike I got from the house. If I have to give one 'negative' remark, is that everyone has a different schedule. So it's possible to be alone in the house for a few hours, but it's also possible that everyone is home in the living room and that there is a good conversation going on :) Offcorse, this remark is only normal, but it jumped in my eye. Anyways, you should really ask Luca if you can come, because it's really cool :)

I totally Enjoyed my amazing 10 days with fantastic people including Luca!! I'm writing this feedback and looking back that every single wonderful moments I spent in Ghent. I miss all of people living there and workawayers as well. Thank you so much for inviting me, Luca!! I'm so grateful to you a lot!! I'm deadly serious;)

Here is the place I… read more really want to come back. See you again, beautiful mind people!!!!

We had a good time working with Luca. He gave us a special missions - terrace in the garden. Luca is very generous with his knowledge, and his house. We had really really good team working with others workawayers. Atmosphere is very friendly, we watched a lot of movies with each other and even had a small party. Once again thank you Luca !

I had a good time working with Luca. Luca is very generous with his time, his knowledge, and his house. He made sure to explain where everything was that I needed, and how to do the tasks I needed to do. He eventually gave me more autonomy and allowed me to develop some confidence in what I was doing.
In my two weeks with Luca, I feel like I… read more started to feel less intimidated by small repairs around the house and began to trust more in my own ability to come up with a way to handle small repairs.
After four days with Luca, I let him know that I had decided to travel and wouldn't be able to stay. We had agreed on a two week trial period for both sides so I felt this was fair. I completed the two weeks with Luca and value my time spent at his house. I have been back to Luca's house as a friend and always enjoy talking and being with Luca.

SKILLS
Even if he has not extremely developed handyman skills he was helping and learning really fast.
He is methodic and always attempts to do things as good as he can, despite time passing.

COMMUNICATION
We had good and structured communication and he was quite… read more transparent and honest in telling me his thoughts.

LONG STAY AGREEMENT
Unfortunately he decided to leave us to go traveling just after one week even if our first agreement was for several months.
Despite this we would love to have him again at home as friend and as handyman. ;-)

(good
)

07.02.2015

Von Host für Workawayer (Michael)

Michael was supposed to come and help us as handyman, unfortunately he didn't feel like taking the task after few days.

Except of this we had nice talks with him and a really positive House sharing experience.

Antonio agreed to help us for six months.
He arrived at home and helped us nicely.
We had to talk after the first two weeks to confirm our agreement.
When I was looking for him in order to talk I could not find him, I sent him many emails, messages, made phone calls and contacted him with all means but never had a reply.
I went to his room… read more and there were no belongings of him anymore.
After more than a week still I don't get any answer from him.

Luca have decent guest house in Ghent (Ledeberg). My duties was to manage all activities like: guests check in & out, room preparing,various maintenance tasks,etc. Atmosphere is very friendly,accommodation is OK,center of Ghent is available by bicycle or tram. I recommend this host